“She was worried. And a wee bit scary.” Nate grimaced. “Sorry. For what it’s worth, maybe you could hear her out, being as she was trying to walk towards the fire instead of away from it for your sake last night.”
“She was a fucking fool,” Warren muttered.
“Aye, a whipped one.” Nate cast him a knowing look.
“She doesn’t even like me.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” They turned into the firehouse, where the other truck was already parked inside the red bricks, giving Warren the opportunity to avoid a reply. It was quieterthan Warren had ever seen it, his colleagues likely to have gone home hours ago. Responders from all over Lochaber had flooded the uplands tonight, taking control with Warren, which meant once the flames had died, the others had been eager to finish their shift while less exhausted officers stuck around to assess the area.
“I’ll sort the hoses out. You go,” Warren said, and was met with a roll of Nate’s eyes but no protests. As he’d told Nate before, he liked this part of the job: cleaning the apparatus and sorting the hose dryers. After all the chaos, slipping into an easy routine helped quieten his mind. Except tonight, everything inside him hummed at the thought of Eiley waiting for him in one of the offices.
He worked slowly just to avoid her for longer until there was nothing left to do but get dressed and search for her.
It didn’t take long.
In the locker room, she sat on one of the benches, wringing her hands. She hopped up at the sight of him, distress marked in every line of her face.
“Warren …” She breathed his name like it was air and she’d been suffocating, shoulders sinking in a relief that made him wonder if there was some truth to Nate’s statement.
After the night he’d had, it was all he could do to crack open, because he found that hewantedto see her. Craved it in a way most people craved a hot bath at the end of an arduous day. His eyes were sore from looking into the flames and his muscles felt like stones scraping his skin, and he was so, so exhausted. Her presence was a remedy. A reminder that the world wasn’t all ash.
“Are you okay?” She stepped closer, examining him from head to toe despite his thick turnouts.
“You shouldn’t be here.” His voice was hoarse. He’d shouted a lot last night, shooting orders and answering them in equal measure.
“I know. I don’t care.”
“You’re supposed to be in Glasgow. The one saving grace about last night was that I thought you weresafe, Eiley.” Warren perched on the nearest bench to shuck off his boots, feet throbbing.
“I’m sorry.” She blinked tears out of her eyes. “I just needed to see you.”
“Why?”
“Because …”
She didn’t elaborate, only left more questions dangling in the air between them. Warren stood and ripped off his jacket. “I need a shower.”
“You won’t talk to me?” Her words shook, and he felt like he might collapse onto his knees in front of her then and there. If it was talking she wanted, she’d be left disappointed. His body was on red alert, still, brain moving like sludge as the adrenaline crested over him. He couldn’t conjure words. Could barely conjure movement.
“Talking usually leads to fighting, and I don’t …” He hung his jacket on the rack, ready to be washed. “I’m tired. And I …”
“What?” Eiley sidled up to him, cupping his jaw so gently he barely felt it. She’d only touched him like this once before, when she’d seen his scars. When she hadn’t asked, hadn’t pushed. When he’d realised that she was perhaps the gentlest,most empathetic woman he’d ever known, and certainly the only one he wanted. “I’m here, Warren. You can talk to me.”
“Eiley …” It would be so much easier to tell her to leave if she wasn’t stripped back to raw honesty now, eyes wide with sincerity and dark with the same tiredness he felt. A once locked door, suddenly pushed open. He didn’t know how to stop himself from stumbling through.
She leaned in, slow enough that he could have stopped her – except he couldn’t, because there was no room for barriers between them this morning. No strength to keep them standing.
So she kissed him, and it burned through him hotter than any wildfire; the one flame he couldn’t douse, no matter how hard he tried.
He pulled back. “I’m so fucking angry with you, Eiley.”
“I know.”
“I need you,” he said with only a hint of shame. “I need you more than I need to fight you.”
“You have me. Feel.” She put his hand on her chest, the pale skin so delicate he was afraid he’d leave a mark. The speeding drumbeat of her heart fluttered against his palm. “You have me,” she repeated. Promised.
He wanted so badly to believe it.
